Charly B

Debut

Born in Rome to a family of music lovers, he is of French, German and Armenian descent. At the age of 4, his family moved back to France, where he spent most of his childhood. He was fascinated by music, and discovered reggae at the age of 15, when he spent a year at IONA High School in Jamaica, living with a Jamaican family, in a program sponsored by the American Field Service. Later on, he studied sound engineering at the School of Recording Arts, Canada and at the Sound and Audio Engineering School in Geneva.

He composed his first reggae song at the age of 15. His musical studies in Canada, long visit to Jamaica, and time spent living in France near the Swiss border, together with his international tours, form the cultural underpinnings of his artistic vision. He has collaborated with legends of dancehall reggae such as Capleton, Kiprich, De Marco and Anthony B.

Career

In 2002, at the age of 21, he was voted best DJ in Geneva. In 2003, he wrote a song for the movie "Destination Jamaica" by George Tait (Jungle George) In December 2003, his song "My Queen" was included in a DVD distributed with the Austrian surfers' magazine Methodmag (60,000 copies). In 2005 he was voted the best DJ in Switzerland, in a contest organized by Giddeon Productions. Unfortunately, he was not able to take advantage of the prize, a concert on the main stage of Rototom Sunsplash Festival 2005, as he had committed to visit Jamaica that summer. He therefore gave the prize to Elijah, the runner-up in the competition. In 2007, Eliane Dambre of the Ateliers du Funambule, decided to nominate him for the Eurovision competition as Switzerland's candidate, (in competition with DJ Bobo), but the attempt was made too late to qualify him for the contest. More recently, in 2009, he won an award for "Best Reggae Song" in the Reggae Europe competition. He has hundreds of songs composed by him (music and lyrics), in French and English and in Jamaican slang, registered with the French-based Society of Lyricists, Composers and Music Editors (SACEM). In February 2013, he wins a podium at the Victories of Reggae 2013 in the category "Revelation of the Year". The Jamaican newspapers "Jamaican Observer" write a great article on his career in February 2013, February being the "Reggae Month" In June 2013, he wins the Price of the Public and the best author-composer price at the Zicmeup Competition in Paris organized by Zicmeup/the Voice. In 2015, he joins the TMMG Production group in Kingston and gets a VPal distribution for his single Prophecies Untold, followed in 2016 by "Eyes dem Red" and "Nah Give Up", and in 2017 by "One Phone Call".

Studios in Jamaica

2009-2015: In summer 2009, after winning a competition with Reggae Europe with his song "My Sound", Reggae Europe offered the artist to do some recordings and videos at Geejam Studios in Jamaica. He there had the opportunity to meet with Jon Baker and his team, and several of the artists who recorded there (Grace Jones, Drake, Diplo, Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, John Legend, No Doubt, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Florence and the Machine, Alborosie etc. etc. He recorded there the "Forever" album. In 2015, he starts recording a new reggae album with TMMG, which will see the light at the end of 2017.

Encounters, tours and international invitations

Between 2009 and 2015, he meets and/or works with many artists, the Jolly Boys, Alborosie, the Shengen Clan, Agent Sasco (Assassin), Chronixx, 2Chainz, Mystic Davis (Aidonia) and many others. He is invited to perform and tour in Spain, Germany, Canada, the United States and Vietnam (Cama Festival and more). During that period, he also makes several videos, among which Ooh No (2009), The Way you wine (2009), Forever (2010), Everything OK (2012), Gypsy (2013), Prophecies Untold (2015), Nah Give Up (2016).

Albums

Singles

Video clips

TV Program

Shows